BUSINESS, REAL ESTATE

Value of Nairobi’s Hot Properties Grows Faster Than London, Hong Kong

Nairobi defied global trends as it recorded annual growth in Q3 2022 in the Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index, which tracks movement in the top five percent of residential prices. Prime is defined as the most desirable and expensive property in a location, in this case the top 5 per cent of each market by value.

Nairobi ranked two positions ahead of London and eight and nine positions ahead of Hong Kong and Monaco respectively.

With 2.9% growth compared to Q3 2021, Nairobi was the only African city listed among 45 global cities that recorded annual growth in the third quarter of 2022. Globally, prime price growth dipped for the second consecutive quarter. In the period under review the average annual growth dropped from 10 per cent in Q1 to 7.5 per cent in Q3.

19 out of the 45 cities tracked registered a decline between June and September 2022, indicating a marked slowdown.

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Dubai recorded the highest growth globally, rising by a whopping 88.8% between Q3 last year and Q3 2022. It grew 29.3% from the previous quarter.

Miami in the United States came second, posting annual growth of 30.8%. It grew 3.1% from the previous quarter.

Tokyo, Los Angeles, Gold Coast, Zurich, Edinburgh, Berlin, Seoul and Taipei closed out the top 10.

Knight Frank projected sustained growth in 2023 in most markets, stating: “Resilient labour markets, a lack of supply and well capitalised lenders will support prime prices in most markets into 2023. However, the transition out of a sustained period of low lending rates will lead to pinch points in some markets, particularly amongst highly-leveraged prime landlords, potentially adding to stock levels in some cities.”